Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

critical studies 2004 299
that Philo regarded the mind without the senses as incomplete and that Opif.
151ff. and Gig. 29 suggest the importance of partnership between husband and
wife as well as Philo’s general acceptance of sexuality. Filler stresses that Philo
did not recommend abstinence and was thus closer to the rabbis than to certain
Greek thinkers. Moreover, the Therapeutae are identified as a group of elderly
philosophers, who abstained from marital life only towards the end of their lives,
after establishing a family. Finally, Filler explains Philo’s famous insistence on
theseparateplaceofwomeninthehouseasanexpressionofhisconcernthat
homosexuality may spread if the essential difference between man and woman
is not upheld. (MRN)
20436. F. Frazier, ‘Une «biographie allégorique» chez Philon?: sur
l’emploi de l’interprétation allégorique dans le «De Josepho»,’ in B.
Pérez-Jean and P. Eichel-Lojkine (edd.), L’allégorie de l’Antiquité à
la Renaissance, Colloques, congrès et conférences sur la Renaissance 43
(Paris 2004) 255–286.
In the Ios. Philo associates the allegorical method with a certain kind of
biography, a method which has unusual features. The author compares Abr.
and Ios., which are not straightforward accounts of biographical events, but
both constitute a bios. These ‘allegorical biographies’ are based on a first kind
of basic allegory which extracts from the biblical account a symbolic figure and
reconstructs it through a rewriting of the narrative. To this basic task a ‘second
allegorization’ is added, involving detail, which is attached to each episode and
varies its function from the one treatise to the other. A comparison of the
treatises’ structure allows the tensions inherent in Ios.tobeobserved:thetension
between the ideal figure of the politician drawn in the narrative and inspired
in particular by Hellenistic theories on good government, and the allegorical
commentaries, which emphasize the difficulties and the relative worth of the
political world, a tension which also arises between the figure-symbol and the
biblical patriarch whose destiny is part of God’s purpose. (JR)
20437. L.E.Galloway,Freedom in the Gospel. Paul’s Exemplum in
1 Cor 9 in Conversation with the Discourses of Epictetus and Philo,Contributions
to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 38 (Leuven 2004), esp. 103–
148.
In this monograph based on a 2001 Emory dissertation (on which see 20122)
the author includes a chapter on ‘Freedom in the Works of Philo’. Philo is seen
as continuously engaging the Cynic–Stoic tradition by means of his allegorical
method. Against the background of the philosophical discussion, the theocentric
character of freedom is emphasized. The mind, after being liberated from
the tyranny of passion and wrongdoings, has God for its master. Regarding
wealthPhilodoesnotvaluetheCynic’scalltoalifeofrenunciation.Although
Prob.reflects strong agreement with Stoic teachings, it also reflects Philo’s overarching
concern that the vision of God must be the goal of the person who is free.